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Monday, May 23, 2011

Charlie Hales for mayor? Nah.

Here's a fellow who was part of the City Council that set Portland onto its current path to oblivion -- he sat alongside Mayor Vera and gave the place away to Homer Williams. The South Waterfront fiasco was conceived and locked in under his watch. Since then, Hales has made a living literally hawking streetcars across the country. He's on record as wanting Portland to be "the best European city in America."

Gong!

He may not be a pathological liar with a teenage lover in his closet, and he'll talk a good line about economic development, but he wouldn't change things much. He's all about the condos. There's got to be a better candidate out there.

But I'd vote for him (if I could; after voting for Sho and watching him lose I moved out of Portland and into Tigard) in a heartbeat for Mayor of Portland. Heck, I'd even campaign for him, volunteer for him, and slap a nice big "W '11" sticker on my car.

(But please, leave Dick Cheney at home in Wyoming. We have enough of them (you can imagine what I'm thinking here) already serving in City Hall.)

Looks like “sly as a fox” Charlie wants back in the city saddle again.
Could it be that selling streetcars in other cities is not so lucrative right now?
Hard economic times, so the plan is to ride back into the town where his
“smart growth” plans wrecked livability, and to ride herd over us again?
No Thank You!!!

He did enough damage.
This city does not belong to him to reshape,
it belongs to the people who live here.
Want to reshape? Then go in with the big boys Homer, etc. if such aspirations.
We don't need a Mayor who wants to push his brand of development.
This city has had enough of his kind.

You know all those "skateboard lane" signs in downtown that go absolutely nowhere. You can thank Skateboard Charlie for that.

What's really troubling is that Charlie was such a big-time skateboard advocate because his son was really into it. My guess is that Charlie needs to get back into the public sector so he can get insurance that pays for his family therapy sessions.

Clinamen: Choo Choo Charlie may have already figured out the US DOT is broke and that those streetcar sales will decline to almost nothing by 2012. And, of course, he will need another job to scam the public out of their taxpayer dollars..

Charlie has my vote. I worked with him for ten years and he's smart, fiscally conservative, has actually worked somewhere other than government, fought with Vera most of the time, and is the only one who has a chance at winning over Sam. Keep up this negativity Jack, and we'll be stuck with disastrous Sam for another four years.

That was stunning ignorance and you just blew up whatever credibility you may have had.

Hales is a career liar of the worst ilk.

He would mean an even harder push towards fiscal suicide with his cult like fanatisim for rail transit and the heavily subsidized TOD development he has been paid to peddle.

Under the charade of somehow being preferable to Creepy he would likely be an even worse disaster and push back any chance of recovery from these lunatics even further.

Consulting for government is hardly working somewhere other than government.

So what do you suppose Hales' wisdom and leadership would bring towards Milwaukie Lighr Rail, Lake Oswego Streetcar and CRC-Light Rail, all of which are being advanced AGAINST the will of the citizenry?

You worked with him for 10 years and concluded he is smart and fiscally conservative?

Sorry, but "fiscally conservative" and "Streetcar" cannot belong in the same book. (Forget same sentence or paragraph.)

After all, just look at the mess TriMet is in because the City of Portland siphons off $6 million a year from regional TriMet funds to pay for the Streetcar. Maybe the City is being fiscally conservative - they make the poor folks out in Forest Grove who are two miles from the last 57 bus stop pay for the (fare free for most riders) (City of) Portland Streetcar. Just like the City doesn't pay for the bridges, folks out in Corbett get to.

But I'd vote for him (if I could; after voting for Sho and watching him lose I moved out of Portland and into Tigard) in a heartbeat for Mayor of Portland. Heck, I'd even campaign for him, volunteer for him, and slap a nice big 'W '11' sticker on my car."

Surely you would not want him for his interpretation of sound fiscal policy? His visage in the photos from the TX stadium suggest that a pie in the face is far more appropriate than a vote for any elective office.

If you want someone who will be effective in Portland's dysfunctional City Government, it will have to be someone who has extensive experience there. Anyone else will be eaten alive by the insiders and never know what happened to them or their campaign promises.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 113
At this date last year: 155
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269